"Jack Goff" wrote in message
om...
"Doug Kanter" wrote:
We are their biggest market. If you have a moment, perhaps you could
explain
the dangers of this arrangement to your president.
I don't disagree that the fact that we are buying tons of Chinese crap is
a
problem. I would also hope that you understand that the problem did not
start under *your* President Bush (he is your President as well, unless
you
do not live in the US) , and will not end under him either.
You do realize that is not the question you were asking, right? You were
doubting everyone that place the location of the "increased demand on oil"
as China. You never asked *why* that happened, you only asked that people
back up *where* they said it was happening.
Prices have risen as investors bet refiners and producers will struggle to
meet winter demand in the fourth quarter.
Prices have risen as investors bet refiners and producers will struggle to
meet winter demand in the fourth quarter.
Prices have risen as investors bet refiners and producers will struggle to
meet winter demand in the fourth quarter.
If you need your farm stand to produce X dollars per season, and something
wipes out 1/3 of your tomatoes before they ripen, you may raise your prices
a certain amount to get you closer to "X". The key word here is YOU. YOU
raise the price, not some speculator halfway around the globe. This is quite
different from the oil situation we're discussing. You and others are making
a DIRECT, CAUSATIVE connection between China and current prices.
Read:
http://money.excite.com/ht/nw/bus/20...n27319237.html
By Richard Mably
LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices hit a new record above $60 a barrel on Monday,
driven by demand growth resilience in the face of high fuel costs and
worries about oil policy under Iran's new hardline president.
U.S. August crude traded as high as $60.64 a barrel and by 1200 GMT was up
55 cents at $60.39. U.S. crude is above $60 for every month until August
2006 with December 2005 setting a peak $61.90 a barrel.
London Brent set a record $59.21 a barrel before easing to $58.91, up 55
cents.
"The market is testing higher to see what price levels this demand can
endure," said Naohiro Niimura, vice president at the derivative products
division of Mizuho Corporate Bank.
Prices have risen as investors bet refiners and producers will struggle to
meet winter demand in the fourth quarter.
While high prices are eroding some strength from the world economy, the
overall growth picture remains solid, central bankers meeting in Switzerland
said at the weekend.
"There was a general consensus that we will have high oil prices for at
least the next two or three years," said Martin Redrado, Argentina's central
bank governor.
That economic resilience has encouraged speculators to test consumers'
ability to absorb higher costs, with only a significant pull-back in demand
from an economic slowdown seen likely to tame prices.
Victory in Iran's presidential election for ultra-conservative Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad also helped support prices.
Ahmadinejad has vowed to flush out corruption from the country's oil sector
and favor domestic investors, although analysts do not expect a big shift in
production policy.
"We don't know in practice yet what Ahmadinejad means for foreign oil policy
or Iran's role in OPEC but there could well be months of uncertainty which
will further delay progress on production capacity," said Iranian consultant
Mehdi Varzi.
Held back by U.S. sanctions, Iran has struggled to lift output capacity with
foreign investment still severely restricted.
"I think Iran's capacity is actually falling," said Varzi. "It will take
time but Ahmadeinejad may be able to streamline policy decisions which would
encourage foreign investors."
The president-elect said his nation would press ahead with its controversial
nuclear program, which the United States sees as part of an effort to build
atomic weapons.
That is likely to stir geopolitical worries on oil markets sensitive to the
chance of output disruptions when spare capacity is limited to small unused
volumes in Saudi Arabia.
Dealers see tight market conditions running for at least another year,
especially for distillate products such as heating oil and diesel.
Over the past four weeks, demand for distillates in the United States has
risen nearly 7 percent from last year while gasoline consumption is up 2.5
percent.
The growth in distillate usage reflects strong consumption in the industrial
and transport sectors, particularly in the trucking business used to ferry
goods around the United States.
Dealers were undeterred by OPEC's largely symbolic output hike earlier this
month. Now producers are consulting on another modest increase of 500,000
barrels a day, cartel president Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahd al-Sabah said on
Saturday.
Saudi Arabia, the only OPEC producer with any spare capacity, says it is
already meeting customer demand for crude.